Different consumers have different preferences and needs, especially when it comes to detergent compositions for household and laundry cleaning. After cleaning their household surfaces or laundry, all consumers want their homes and clothing to smell clean and fresh. However, different consumers have different ideas as to what perfume denotes a “fresh” smell. In addition, they have different desires when it comes to colours. Moreover, there is also a desire to have variants of detergent compositions with specific types and levels of functional ingredients. For example, detergent compositions comprising specific soil release polymers to provide improved levels of particulate or grease cleaning, or perfume microcapsules to provide longer lasting freshness. Further, in general, liquid cleansing compositions in lamellar phase with low level of strong electrolyte are known.
For simplicity in making, it is desirable to produce such tailored liquid compositions from a common base-mix. Such base mixes comprise the ingredients which are common to the different formulation variants. In order to arrive at the final detergent composition, the differentiating ingredients, and other ingredients, are added at the desired level in order to provide a detergent composition having the desired aesthetics and performance. In order to simplify mixing of such ingredients into the base mix, a low viscosity base mix is desired.
It is desirable to formulate the base-mix with a high level of surfactant in order to simplify storage and transportation, and then dilute the base-mix in order to arrive at the desired surfactant concentration for the finished product.
However, at high surfactant concentrations, a liquid crystalline phase typically forms. Unless the detergent composition is structured, such liquid crystalline phases separate out into a phase which is rich in the liquid crystalline phase. Thus, base mixes are typically formulated with sufficient solvent or hydrotropes in order to limit the amount of such liquid crystalline phase in the base mix, and avoid the base mix from phase-splitting. However, the use of solvents can lead to a base mix having a low flash point, resulting a process which has to be explosion-proofed. Moreover, the resultant final detergent composition also comprises higher levels of solvent, and requires higher levels of structurant in order to arrive at the desired viscosity.
As such, a need remains for a process whereby differentiated liquid detergent compositions can be made from a common stable base mix, without requiring high levels of solvent. In addition, a need remains for a liquid detergent composition which requires little or no external structurant in order to achieve the viscosity and level of structuring desired by consumers.